"Boston State-House is the hub of the solar system." - Oliver Wendell Holmes
"...not everyone, but only one who knows, finds the midpoint in a circle." - Aristotle
"...I stated, 'Your Home is not an asset.' Real estate agents sent me hate mail." - Robert Kiyosaki

Staples has moved out of Stockwell Drive

The hits just keep coming for Stockwell Drive. Staples has recently moved out of its space at 20 Stockwell Drive, Avon and has moved into a new space at 500 Westgate Drive, Brockton which is located near the Westgate Mall. That’s great for Starbucks aficionados because the new Staples location is located very close to the new Starbucks pad.

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Stockwell Drive is quickly becoming a ghost town. Sure, IKEA is close but there’s not much reason to visit the remaining shops along Stockwell Drive these days. There is a new space called Altitude Trampoline Park which has recently opened.

The worst news for Stockwell Drive is the death of an 19-year-old employee of Party City named Ariel Dineen on October 14th. The story is horrific. Ariel seemingly tripped while crossing Stockwell Drive in order to buy something at Dunkin’ Donuts and was hit by the driver of an oncoming vehicle.

I walked across Stockwell Drive twice on the morning of September 4th in order to take photos of the various vacant spaces to write “Disconcerting Retail Vacancies Along Stockwell Drive“. I clearly remember thinking that I didn’t feel safe crossing the road. Vehicles were speeding by. I had a difficult time finding an appropriate place to cross. There were no well-marked crosswalks and the crosswalks that were there were located on top of speed bumps which seemed dangerous and, quite frankly, an outdated practice. There were no crosswalk signals.

15 Stockwell Drive, Avon

In my opinion, it would be difficult for drivers to recognize those speed bumps as crosswalks because they’re not the typical crosswalk one would be used to seeing and, conversely, it would be difficult for pedestrians because the crosswalk isn’t located on a flat surface.

I hope Stockwell Drive can make a complete recovery but the outlook looks grim.